Very entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (18 August 2002)

If one is willing to give great liberties because the movie is a fairy tale with a message, then it is entertaining though overly long. One of the things I liked about the movie was that there was no nudity or sex or foul language only to discover that it was rated "R" for language. I watched it on the Bravo channel so I must have watched a cleaned up version. That was fortunate because if foul language had been used, it would have destroyed the fairy tale quality of the movie. During the period from 1900 to 1940 when the movie took place, foul language was rarely used and it would have detracted from the aurora of authenticity that made the movie go. Had I seen the foul language version I would have rated it much lower.
But it is only an aurora and not reality. The ship, which was built before 1900, would have been out of service by 1920. Coal burning passenger liners were too inefficient to compete with the more modern oil burners, both in cost and speed, and the luxury lounge which was the center of the movie, would have been empty since anyone who could afford to travel luxury class would have travelled on the more modern ships.
The movie needed to be shortened. One scene that could have been left out was the scene when Max and 1900 were careening around the ballroom while playing a piano during a storm. I don't think the scene added anything to the movie and it was too realistic. Anyone who has been on a ship in a storm would find the scene too unbelievable. In the first place Max and 1900 were sitting on a piano bench and the bench and the piano moved in synchronization as if they both connected, which is never going to happen. The much heavier piano is going to leave the bench quickly. Secondly, the piano gracefully swings around pillars. In reality that piano is going to go in a straight line until it crashes. Eventually it does but instead of traveling from side to side of the ball room it goes straight down the center of the ship. That would happen only if the ship made a 90 degree turn into the wind. But the whole point of the scene was to set up a conversation that Max and 1900 have shoveling coal as punishment. The movie did not have to go through that much of a contortion to set up the conversation.
One of the best scenes in the movie is near the end when 1900 tells Max why he never left the ship. It was the highlight of the movie but took too long to get there.
The scenes with Jelly Roll Morton were comedic and really part of a fairy tale because no black musician no matter how famous he was would have been allowed to mingle with the luxury class on either an American or British passenger liner.